Link aggregation generally refers to various methods of combining multiple network connections together for faster performance and increased stability through redundancy. Channel bonding is a form of link aggregation that allows two or more network interfaces to be combined into a single logical connection. A channel bonding driver may be included with an operating system to allow network interface aggregation without special hardware support.
Network bridging generally refers to the creation of an aggregate network from two or more different networks or network segments. While several channel bonding modes exist, channel bonding generally does not distribute network traffic evenly across multiple network interfaces in bridged systems, including virtual machines. Instead, packets from a source system usually are transmitted over the same network interface even though one or more other network interfaces are available as part of a bonded network interface. Thus, channel bonding may not effectively utilize each bonded network interface in a bridged system.